River-current motor



- J. W. INGISON RIVER CURRENT MOTOR- 1920 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed Oct. 16

. M/MW Feb. 17, 1925. 1,526,548

' J. w. INGISON RIVER CURRENT MOTOR I Original Filed Oct. 16, 1920 2 Sheets-Sheot-2 INVENTO/i. W. IN /so/v 51 7- Tomvs Ys.

Patented Feb. 17, 1925.

nurrsn s'r re s 1,526,548 PATENT OFFICE.

JAY w. ING-ISON, or iirivnnnron s iu nnnso'ra, assrenore T0 INGISON HYDRO- ELEo'r'nio POWER GOMLEANY, or WILMINGTON, DELAWARE, A oonronarrou.

RIVER-CURRENT MOTOR.

Application filed. October 16, 1920, Serial No. 417,333. Renewed July 2, 1924.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAY W. INeIsoN, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in River-Current Motors, of which the following is a specification.

' My invention relates to river current motors, and an object is to provide for utilizing the force exerted by the river current in its natural flow. An object in particular is to provide an improved construction of power-screw which is adapted to be submerged in the water of a river, and which will not only be durable in'poin't of time, butwhich may be constructed in such man nor that it can be built of sutficicnt size to transmit a large amount of power without the weight ofthe screw being excessively great.

' The full objects and advantages of my in vention will appear in connection with the detailed description thereof, and the novel features embodied in my inventive idea will be particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Fig. l is a View in side elevation showing one of my power-screws mounted in operative position.

' Fig. 2 is aview in section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 3. Fig; 3- is a View in section on the line 3 -3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a fragmentary enlarged view in side elevation of the powerscrew. Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view in side elevation of the central member or core of the power-screw. Fig. 6 is a view in crosssection on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a viewin cross-section on the line 7-7 of Fig. 5. Fig; 8 is a detail view partly in section. Fig. 9 is a View in cross-section on the line 9-9 of Fig. 4. Fig. 10 is an inner face VIeW of a reinforclng member.

Referring to the construction shown in' the drawings, the numeral 12 designates a float which is intended to be held in a river or stream of water by an anchoring cable 14. Supported upon the float is a cabin or power-house 16 which may contain one or more electric generators to be operated by a power-screw 18 or a plurality of such screws suspended underneath the float in a suitable manner so as to extend lengthwise of the water current. The particular manner in which the power-screw is constructed forms an essential feature of my invention, and will be described in detail in regard to a screw having four blades although it is obvious that the number of blades may be varied as desired. A core or central member 20 is provided with four helical surfaces extending from end to end, this core appearing in cross-section with different angular relationship at different places, as indicated at Figs. 6 and 7. Starting with this core as a foundation, the blades of the power- SCIGV are built up by superposing a plurality of strips 22 upon each of the helical surfaces. These strips are preferably white oak strips, but, if desired, may he of other material. In the operation of building up the blades, the strips are applied successively and secured in position temporarily in suitable manner as by tacking. The strips are preferably of the same width as that of the corresponding helical surfaces on the core 20, and being applied one on top of another for each blade the result is that each blade is given a helical form which is an extension of the helical surface formed on the core. After the blades have been built up to the desired extent in the manner just described, the power-screw is reinforced and fitted for use as a motor in the following manner. To each end of the power-screw is attached a reinforcing member 24 having four arms in the shape of a cross, the inner faces of these arms being provided with inclined grooves 26 to receive the ends of the strips 22. A journal 28 projects from the outer face of each of the reinforcing members, and extends through journal boxes 30 attached to the float 12 near its front and rear ends by depending brackets 32. T0 at least one of the journals 28 is keyed a bevel gear 34 which meshes with a bevel gear 36 secured to a power transmitting shaft 38 which is mounted in a journal box 40 securcd to the brackets 32. The shaft 38 serves to operate mechanism such as electric generators in power-house 16 and which it is not necessary to describe in detail for a complete understanding of the present invention. Upon the outer edges of the helical blades are placed a plurality of saddle members 42 shaped like the letter H. The outer recess in these members receive metal strips 44 through which are passed bolts 46 extending-through oppositely disposed blades, as shown in Fig. 9, holes having been previously bored through the blades to receive the bolts. In this manner, the strips which make up the blades are securely held in place and the outer edges of the blades are protected. The metal strips 44 also serve as truss-rods and for this purpose, the ends of the strips are provided with bolts or reduced screw-threaded portions 48 extending respectively through the arms of the member 24: and held in place by nuts, as best shown in Fig. 8. In constructing my powerscrew, a core 20 of the desired length is formed with helical surfaces having the desired pitch. A plurality of strips 22 is then superposed upon each of these helical surfaces until the blades are built up to the desired size. The strips are applied successively to build up the different blades and in order that the strips may be readily placed in position around the power-screw, the latter is supported in suitable manner so that it may be partially rotated from time to time as the building up process proceeds. After the screw has been constructed of the desired size by the use of a 'suflicient number of wooden strips, it is reinforced and made ready for mounting upon a float in the manner previously described. The power-screw is mounted underneath the float so as to be submerged in the water of a stream, and the force of the current will be applied to successive portions of the blades to cause the screw to turn. A plurality of power-screws may be mounted in juxtaposition so that the capacity of the power-plant will be limited only by the conditions existing in regard to any particular stream of water. In Fig. 1, the numeral 13 designates a cable by means of which another float may be attached to the float 12. lVhile I have shown an efficient form of transmission device for transmitting power from the power screw, it is obvious that any suitable form of transmission may be used. By reference to Figs. 4 and 9, it will be seen that I provide a power screw having no exposed surfaces .which extend in a straight line direction but that all of the exposed surfaces subject to the force of the water current are helical surfaces. It follows from this construction that the water passing the power screw, exerts a maximum torque thereon since when the screw is turning a clear passageway for the water is provided with nothing to break the force exerted by the water on the helical surfaces. My power screw, therefore, constitutes a shaftless or concave auger-shaped.

longitudinal turbine.

I claim:

1. A power-screw for current motors comprising a longitudinal central member having a plurality of helical surfaces thereon, and a plurality of strips secured in superposed position on each of said helical surfaces to constitute blades of the screw.

2. A power-screw for current motors comprising a longitudinalcentral member having a plurality of helical surfaces thereon, a plurality of strips secured in superposed position on each of said helical surfaces to constitute blades of the screw, and journals secured to the ends of said screw.

3. A power-screw for current motors comprising a longitudinal central member of wood, having a plurality of helical surfaces thereon, a plurality of strips of wood secured in superposed position on each of said helical surfaces to constitute blades of the screw, and an outer strip of metal secured upon each of said blades.

4. A power-screw for current motors comprising a longitudinal central member of wood having a plurality of helical surfaces thereon, a plurality of strips of wood superposed on each of said helical surfaces to constitute blades of the screw, a plurality of saddle members on the outer edges of each of said blades, a strip of metal lying in the outer recesses of said saddle members which are on each of said blades, and bolts extends ing through said metal strips and through said strips of wood.

5. A power-screw for current motors com prising a longitudinal central member of wood having a plurality of helical surfaces thereon, a plurality of strips of wood superposed on each of said helical surfaces to con-' stitute blades of the screw, a plurality of saddle members on the outer edges of each of said blades, a strip of metal lying in the outer recesses of said saddle members which are on each of said blades, bolts extending through said metal strips and through said strips of wood, crosslike metal members on the ends of said screw, threaded members on the ends of said metal'strips, said members extending through the arms of said crosslike members, and nuts on the ends of said threaded members.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature.

JAY W. INGISON. 

